Gloster Road Castle

We turned down the side street, crossed over the tracks
Passed depot buildings and old clapboard shacks.
You've got to see this house; I'd mortgage my soul,
But when we got there, all we found was a hole.

Backhoes and bulldozers, new-ravaged earth,
I know what that property must have been worth,
Whether some redneck's folly, some bankruptcy loss,
A house that won't sell is just an albatross.

Refrain:
Progress, the wrecking ball, heavy and slow,
Greedy developers all in a row,
There's a storm in the suburbs, the bulldozers roar,
The Gloster Road Castle is standing no more.

Two red brick turrets, a lake in the back,
A drawbridge that led to a winding brick track,
Down to the gatehouse, the arches, the towers:
A lifetime's work leveled in just a few hours.

Somebody's castle, a home built by hand,
Somebody making his own promised land,
Somebody's fantasy, beaten to dust,
A fast-rolling bulldozer gathers no rust.

Refrain

A bow in red brick to that chivalric code,
Something worth hoping for down Gloster Road,
Insurance that wishes might really come true,
Without this to dream upon, what will I do?

I'll work for my wages and bow to the Powers,
One day if I can, I will build my own towers,
Continue to trust the world, cold as she seems,
And write songs to fill up the holes in my dreams.

Refrain

Notes: On Gloster Road, a street that intersects with US Highway 29 in Lawrenceville, Georgia, there used to be a castle. It was obviously a homemade job, but I loved it and its red brick facade. One day, some friends of mine were having car trouble and generally having a bad day, and I took them by the castle to cheer them up. Only it wasn't there anymore. The song tells the rest.

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